Sentara Health is hiring a Senior Data Scientist specializing in Machine Learning Operations and Generative AI. This remote role is central to advancing medical research and optimizing healthcare processes by architecting robust ML platform solutions and ensuring the health of production models.
What You'll Do
- Design and develop production-grade Machine Learning Ops and Generative AI solutions.
- Lead the hands-on delivery of scalable GenAI solutions from problem framing through prototyping, evaluation, production, and monitoring.
- Build internal copilots and client-facing products for knowledge search, content generation, conversational analytics, summarization, and workflow automation.
- Design RAG pipelines, embedding strategies, vector search, and model orchestration; evaluate fine-tuning versus prompt engineering approaches.
- Implement guardrails, safety filters, prompt/version management, latency/throughput optimizations, and cost controls.
- Identify areas for improvement in the ML platform and architect solutions to fill those gaps.
- Analyze system performance, scalability, and reliability to pinpoint enhancement opportunities.
- Develop tools and solutions to help the team build, deploy, and monitor AI/ML solutions efficiently.
- Optimize the scalability, performance, and reliability of AI Team solutions by implementing best practices.
- Collaborate with infrastructure teams to ensure smooth integration and deployment of ML solutions.
- Streamline data ingestion, preprocessing, feature engineering, and model training workflows.
- Work with data engineering and data platform teams to design and implement robust data pipelines.
- Evaluate and optimize model prototypes for real-world performance.
- Work with infrastructure and development teams to integrate ML models into production systems.
- Work closely with partner teams to communicate and understand technical requirements and challenges.
- Apply software engineering rigor and best practices to machine learning, including AI/ML Ops, CI/CD, and automation.
- Take offline models built by data scientists and turn them into real machine learning production systems.
What We're Looking For
- 5+ years building production software or ML systems.
- 1+ years of experience with LLMs and Generative AI.
- Proficient in Python and one major DL/LLM stack (e.g., PyTorch/Transformers).
- Experience with LangChain/LlamaIndex, vector databases, and cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
- Demonstrated delivery of RAG, prompt engineering, evaluation frameworks, and guardrails in production.
- Strength in APIs, distributed systems, and ML Ops (Kubernetes, CI/CD, monitoring).
- Experience assessing and improving ML platforms, identifying gaps, and architecting solutions.
- Experience with SQL and big data platforms such as Postgres, Redshift, and Snowflake.
- Experience with Agile/Scrum methodology and best practices.
- 5+ years of experience as a Data Scientist with a strong focus on Azure and Microsoft Data Science, AI, and machine learning toolsets.
- Strong problem-solving skills and ability to tackle complex healthcare challenges using data-driven approaches.
- Strong proficiency in data analysis, manipulation, and visualization using Python.
- Familiarity with healthcare-related datasets, medical terminologies, and electronic health records (EHR) data.
- Knowledge of statistical techniques, hypothesis testing, and experimental design for healthcare research.
- Proficient in machine learning algorithms, statistical modeling, and data analysis.
- Hands-on experience with standard ML frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch) and libraries (e.g., scikit-learn, XGBoost, Keras).
- Solid understanding of data engineering principles, data structures, and algorithms.
- Proficient in Python and/or other programming languages commonly used in ML development.
Nice to Have
- Experience with the EPIC health platform.
- Previous work with Generative AI and ML Ops in a healthcare EPIC environment.
- Understanding of the use and implementation of Vector Databases.
- Kubernetes container orchestration experience.
- Experience in technologies and frameworks like Java, Python, Angular, React, JSON, Application Servers, and CI/CD.
- Experience with one or more AI automation platforms like Kubeflow pipeline, MLFlow, Azure Pipeline, AWS Sage Maker Pipeline, Airflow, Jenkins, Spark, Hadoop, Kafka, Jira, and GIT.
Technical Stack
- Languages & Frameworks: Python, PyTorch, Transformers, LangChain, LlamaIndex, TensorFlow, scikit-learn, XGBoost, Keras, Java
- Data & Cloud: Vector Databases, AWS, Azure, GCP, SQL, Postgres, Redshift, Snowflake
- Infrastructure & DevOps: Kubernetes, CI/CD, Angular, React, JSON
- Automation & Tools: Kubeflow, MLFlow, Azure Pipeline, AWS Sage Maker Pipeline, Airflow, Jenkins, Spark, Hadoop, Kafka, Jira, GIT
Team & Environment
You will be part of Sentara’s Data Science team, working alongside other machine learning engineers, data scientists, software engineers, and platform engineers.
Benefits & Compensation
- Competitive salary range: $91,416.00 - $152,380.80
- Medical, Dental, and Vision plans
- Adoption, Fertility and Surrogacy Reimbursement up to $10,000
- Paid Time Off and Sick Leave
- Paid Parental & Family Caregiver Leave
- Emergency Backup Care
- Long-Term, Short-Term Disability, and Critical Illness plans
- Life Insurance
- 401k/403B with Employer Match
- Tuition Assistance – $5,250/year and discounted educational opportunities through Guild Education
- Student Debt Pay Down – $10,000
- Reimbursement for certifications and free access to complete CEUs and professional development
- Pet Insurance
- Legal Resources Plan
- Annual discretionary bonus (if eligibility criteria met)
Work Mode
This is a fully remote position open to candidates in: Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Sentara Health is an equal opportunity employer and prides itself on the diversity and inclusiveness of its workforce. Diversity, inclusion, and belonging is a guiding principle to ensure our team reflects the communities we serve. Our mission is “to improve health every day,” and we maintain a tobacco-free environment.
